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Carbon nanotubes

A quantum light source

Nature Photonics volume 2, pages 459–460 (2008)Cite this article

Single-photon emission from carbon nanotubes has been observed by researchers in Switzerland. The findings give hope for a new type of light source for quantum computing and quantum communication.

Now Alexander Högele and a team of researchers in Switzerland have, for the first time, observed a photon antibunching effect — the emission of predominantly only one photon at a time — in the photoluminescence from cooled single carbon nanotubes2. As well as providing a further insight into the physics behind carbon nanotubes, the study suggests that they may have potential as a new kind of single-photon source for long-distance quantum communication.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anna Demming is at Nature Photonics, Chiyoda Building, 2-37 Ichigayatamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-0843, Japan. a.demming@natureasia.com,

    Anna Demming

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  1. Anna Demming
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Demming, A. A quantum light source. Nature Photon 2, 459–460 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.143

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2008.143

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